Incidence vs. Prevalence — What's the Difference?

The occurrence, rate, or frequency of a disease, crime, or other undesirable thing

In epidemiology, prevalence is the proportion of a particular population found to be affected by a medical condition (typically a disease or a risk factor such as smoking or seatbelt use) at a specific time. It is derived by comparing the number of people found to have the condition with the total number of people studied and is usually expressed as a fraction, a percentage, or the number of cases per 10,000 or 100,000 people.

The intersection of a line, or something moving in a straight line, such as a beam of light, with a surface

The condition of being prevalent.

The rate or extent of occurrence or effect

(Medicine) The total number of cases of a disease in a given population at a specific time.

Usage Problem A specific event; instance or incident

The quality or condition of being prevalent; wide extension or spread.

The action, fact, or instance of occurring

(epidemiology) The total number of cases of a disease in a given statistical population at a given time, divided by the number of individuals in that population.

The arrival of radiation, a wave, or an object at a surface.

The quality or condition of being prevalent; superior strength, force, or influence; general existence, reception, or practice; wide extension; as, the prevalence of virtue, of a fashion, or of a disease; the prevalence of a rumor.

Angle of incidence.

The quality of prevailing generally; being widespread;

The act of something happening; occurrence.

(epidemiology) the ratio (for a given time period) of the number of occurrences of a disease or event to the number of units at risk in the population

The extent or the relative frequency of something happening.

A superiority in numbers or amount;

The manner of falling; bearing or onus, as of a tax that falls unequally.

(physics) The striking of radiation or a projectile upon a surface.

(epidemiology) A measure of the rate of new occurrence of a given medical condition in a population within a specified period of time.

(geometry) The falling of a point on a line, or a line on a plane.

A falling on or upon; an incident; an event; an occurrence.

The direction in which a body, or a ray of light or heat, falls on any surface.

The rate or ratio at which something occurs; as, the incidence of murder in Los Angeles; the incidence of cancer in men over 50.

The relative frequency of occurrence of something

The striking of a light beam on a surface;